It will be a very cold, white Christmas in Great Falls

Will it be a White Christmas? And other facts about the weather on Christmas Day in the Electric City.
Wochit

Keason Ketchum, 5, helps his grandpa shovel snow in Great Falls Wednesday. December snowfall in Great Falls in December was 13.1 inches as of Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.(Photo: Kristen Inbody)

Lows near 10 below are expected Christmas Day morning in Great Falls, according to the National Weather Service.

It will be as cold as 15 below along northern Montana’s Hi-Line.

Afternoon highs of zero to 5 below are forecast in Great Falls.

Christmas evening, windchills will range from 25 to 35 below across northcentral Montana, with the coldest windchills expected along the Hi-Line, the Weather Service said.

“Be sure to bundle up, dress in layers and minimize exposed skin because frostbite can occur pretty quickly in such conditions,” said Keith Jaszka, a Weather Service meteorologist.

As of Sunday, Christmas Eve, Great Falls had recorded 13.1 inches of snow in December, as measured at the Weather Service office on Tri Hill Frontage Road.

Up to an inch of new snow accumulation is possible Christmas Day from Choteau to Grass Range and points south including Great Falls. A few snow flurries are expected in northern Montana Christmas Day.

Many parts of the Rockies will have a white Christmas along with some cold weather.

Mountain areas in parts of Colorado, Montana and Wyoming received over a foot of new snow from a storm that started Saturday, good news for holiday skiers and resorts that have struggled with a slow start to the season.

The new snow along with strong wind has raised the avalanche danger in some locations in the backcountry.

Temperatures plunged into to the double digits below zero in parts of Wyoming and Montana Sunday thanks to an arctic air mass that has settled across the region.

The lows ranged from the teens and single digits to minus 31 in West Yellowstone, Montana and near Dubois, Wyoming.